INTERVIEW with Chad Berry

Richelle Peryea

Much of Chad
Berry’s life was spent in northern Indiana, swapping stories with his
friends about their families’ ancestry. Most people would say “I’m from
Quebec” or “I’m Russian” or “I’ve lived in Indiana all my life.” But for
Chad Berry, the answers were not always so easy.When asked where his
family was from, Berry would probably be a long time in answering. There
would be few moments silence in waiting for his answer; during this time,
Berry would be mentally tracing his heritage….

“I knew part of
my family was southern Appalachian, other parts were English, Scottish,
etc.”

Then he would
probably shrug, mumble something about the South and Europe, and wave the
question away.Those times would certainly be some of his most
uncomfortable.How was he to answer a question that he didn’t know how to
answer?

This dilemma led
Berry to sign up for a folklore class as a college student.In the duration
of this class, Berry learned about the “culture” of the southern Appalachian
part of his family.The class fueled his desire to learn more.For his senior
thesis, Berry studied the community in which his grandparents were
raised.But even then his thirst was not quenched.For his graduate
dissertation, Berry wrote on “the out-migration from the South and from
Appalachia.”

“[It was] in no
small part to learn about my own family and my own identity,” he says.

his
dissertation, Berry learned more about his family than he ever could have
hoped.And when his dissertation was finished, the inspiration to write
Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles was left.It lingered in his mind for
a long time until, at last, in 2000 the book was published.

Southern
Migrants, Northern Exiles is a book detailing how people from the South
and from Appalachia had to travel north and west for jobs.It refutes
stereotypes that had been, and still are, in effect. Despite its popularity,
there are really only a few things that made Berry feel good about
his work:

“…I’m really
proud…especially because my grandparents were so proud of my attempt to tell
their story. It’s also rewarding when someone who reads it says, ‘You wrote
my story!’”

The study of the
South has not lost interest for Berry.Now he is the director of Appalachian
Studies at Berea College. While there, he teaches classes such as
“Appalachian Culture” and “Senior Seminar in Contemporary Global Issues,”
the latter being a study mostly on world food politics.

But while the
“Senior Seminar” holds a special place in his mind (because he gets to both
cook and co-teach it), the Appalachian Culture course means much to him
because it is the introductory course of his department.

the Appalachian
Studies Department, Berry and his staff try to “reach out” to faculty and
students about southern Appalachian culture.In addition to on-campus work,
Berry’s department works with other programs from regional schools in a
further attempt to teach people more about the history of the southern
Appalachia region.

But what is
really rewarding for Berry is when students from the east Tennessee, North
Carolina region join the Appalachian studies program.He writes that these
students have often been encouraged to “get rid of” their past.Berry is
often moved at “the transformation” from questioning to understanding, most
likely tying these students to his own past confusion over his heritage.

“The
transformation is often powerful. And it’s certainly rewarding for me as a
teacher to be able to facilitate it.”

In addition to
teaching, Berry has also traveled to other countries.Berry has traveled to
over forty-one other countries, including Ukraine and Ghana. A rural village
in Ghana, where Berry was on sabbatical, inspired him to make a list of
similarities and differences between it and southern Appalachia.After a
long, extremely detailed list, Berry found that his grandparents would have
been at home in this little village.

This thought led
Berry to explain that there are many cultures in the world that have been
stereotyped much like the south Appalachia region: “backwoodsy”and
unintelligent.Basically, the world has come to view the culture that many
people base their lives upon as medieval garbage that should be thrown away
in favor of modern culture.

And as Berry
finished on this reflection as a small piece of his life, he wrote to the
young writers in the world “to find your own voice.” This is
especially important to those who want to hold on to our Appalachian culture
and make it real for the world.Every day now, a person is rejecting his or
her Southern heritage in favor of the modern one.There are still those,
though, who believe in this culture, but their numbers are dwindling.“Don’t
let the world forget Appalachia” is a motto that Chad Berry surely lives by,
and so should we who inhabit it. -e-

The Emancipator Staff

The Emancipator was founded in 1999 by students Ginger
Glenn, Jason Howard, Angie Slater, and Sandy Slater, with
the guidance of faculty advisor Liz Lamont. The journal is
named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. LMU serves
as a living memorial to the legacy of President Lincoln

LMU is a values-based learning community dedicated to pro-
viding educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies. The main campus is located in Harrogate,
Tennessee. For more information about the university, contact the Office of Admissions, at 423.869.6280 oer via email
at admission@lmunet.edu.